Shattered Memories
by TheFirstElf
Summary: a K18 fic. What will 18 do when a shadow from her past returns to haunt her?
1. Meditation and Light Reading

**Krillin**

A short man sat on the beach meditating, basking in the sun's rays. Light glinted off of his head, where new hair began to sprout. Soundlessly, he raised his ki, trying to reach the limits of his power. Beside him, rocks and clumps of sand began to levitate in the air surrounding the man. Suddenly, the man stopped his training, having reached the uttermost limit of his ki. Raising it past the limit would mean using his life force, killing him quickly.

"No... I'm still too weak... I have to get stronger..." thought the man known as Krillin. The memory of being brushed off by Cell, then being almost killed by one of the Cell Jrs was fresh on his mind.

"I'm useless... I can't help my friends... I couldn't even save Eighteen from Cell... I'm a piece of meat, nothing more..." he thought, his memories fueling his despair and depression.

"Eighteen... Where are you?" he thought, looking at the sky "Dammit! Why can't I stop thinking about her? What did you do to me, Eighteen?".

The rocks floating around him, fell to the ground, as Krillin let his ki go, and with them, his morale.

"No! I won't be useless anymore! I have to pass my limit!" he whispered, raising his ki again. The rocks rose higher now, but once again, Krillin found that unseen barrier separating his ki from the rest of his life force. He was angry now: angry that he was weak, angry that he couldn't get anything right, angry that he had spent his whole life living alone on an island with a perverted old man and a talking pig, and it was this anger that made him break his limit, his life slowly slipping away as he concentrated, raising his ki to levels far beyond Goku's Super Saiyan level.

"Krillin! What are doing?! Stop it!" shouted a voice behind him, breaking his concentration. As his ki went back to normal, blackness began to tug at his eyes and Krillin welcomed it, falling into unconsciousness.

**Eighteen**

"This is the very coinage of your brain. This bodiless creation ecstacy is cunning in." read the woman, her blonde hair moving slightly in the wind.

She was sitting on the roof of a wooden bungalow in the middle of the forest, holding a hardcover copy of Shakespeare's "Hamlet". While her brother still found it highly amusing to waylay travelers in these parts and strip them of their possessions, Eighteen had decided that the only way to truly understand how humans thought, she would have to read what inspired them, so, she began to read. Small books at first, usually cheap romance novels that she could buy with the little money they had, then, discovering a nearby library, she began to read bigger, more complex books, and, slowly, she began to enjoy it. She understood many complex human rituals during the "dating" period, she understood how the justice system worked, she even understood advanced robotics, which, in her case, seemed a necessary subject to learn and process, but, out of all the books she had read, Shakespeare seemed to inspire her the most. His novels seemed to give her the best understanding of human society: "Julius Caesar" taught her the importance of politics and language, "Macbeth" taught her about human ambition, "Romeo and Juliet", her own personal favorite, taught her about love and sacrifice, but "Hamlet" seemed to infuriate her. The main character seemed to only think of revenge, and it reminded her of someone she wished to forget entirely. Dr Gero. The man who had kidnapped her, manipulated her, changed her, _used_ her for his vendetta against Goku. Suddenly angry at the book, she hurled it into the air and destroyed it with a ki blast.

"Why did you do that, sis?" said a raven haired man, walking towards her. Slumped over his shoulder was a deer, which she assumed was dinner, and in his other hand was an old shotgun.

"The book. It talks about revenge. It reminded me of...him." she whispered audibly, and her brother, Seventeen, nodded to show he understood exactly what she was going through.

Suddenly, a huge ki flared to the south, and both of them paled. Whatever it was, it was stronger than either of them, and it definately wasn't Gohan or Vegeta, who lived to the North and the West.

"I'm going to see what that was." said Eighteen "Stay here Seventeen." Looking pointedly at the dead animal she added "And start skinning that deer."


	2. Encounters on a Beach

When you pass out, it's usually painless. The problem, however, is waking up. When Krillin woke up, precisely fifteen minutes later, his head felt like it had been run over by a car and his muscles felt like they had been ironed. As he opened his eyes he saw a wrinkled face with a white beard and moustache looking angrily at him.

"If you do something that stupid and idiotic again, You'll be sleeping in a gutter, understand me Krillin?" whispered the face of Master Roshi looking angrily at him.

Krillin nodded and stumbled to his feet. He was still stiff from using all of his energy, and his muscles pained him. Staggering outside he looked at the sea, crashing against the calm beach. Sighing, he thought about the day's events.

"Why do I keep thinking about her? Why can't I just live in peace?" he thought.

"Why is it that whenever there's trouble, you're there?" came a distinctly feminine voice from behind him.

As Krillin turned around, a fist made contact with his cheek, knocking him to the ground. Krillin smiled as he saw a blonde woman standing over him.

"Hello to you too, Eighteen." he said "I'm guessing you have some motivation for this?" he added calmly, looking at the woman who had invaded his thoughts for the last six months.

Matching his even tone, Eighteen replied " Yes, infact, there is. This is payback for removing the bomb from inside me without my permission. Now can you explain to me why there was a huge ki coming from this area?"

"Yeah...about that... That would have been me. Sorry for making you worry..." he muttered goofily, scratching the back of his head.

Eighteen laughed in disbelief. "You?! Yeah right! That's impossible..." she said, eying the short man.

"Well...I...I...I wanted to break the limits of my power, to see how powerful I really am... unfortunately, I can't hold that power for very long, considering that I might die..." he said, looking at the ground. Getting up, he looked at the android.

"How are _you_, Eighteen. Did you find your brother?" he asked.

Eighteen nodded, and, leaning forward, she examined the bruise her fist had left on his cheek. "No permanent damage" she thought.

"And where are you staying? You have a home, right?" he asked curiously, trying to get her to talk to him.

"Yes, I have home. I found a mountain cabin. It's abandoned. After a few reparations, my brother and I moved in." she said. Laughing suddenly, something very rare, she continued "My brother makes a living killing deer, and I spend my days reading literature, and to think we were the killer androids!"

"_Civil blood makes civil hands unclean._" quoted Krillin, looking at the blonde android.

"You like Romeo and Juliet? I never thought you would enjoy reading..." she mused.

Krillin was silent, and then, levitating off the ground, he beckoned for her to follow her to a nearby window.

Eighteen was mistrusting. How could she trust the human? He was, after all, a Z fighter. Her programming urged her to kill the short man, but her better judgment overrid the idea, and flying towards the window, she saw a small room, dominated by a bed and a large bookcase. On the windowsill was a photograph of Krillin with the rest of his friends, even an albeit sulky Vegeta. Eighteen stifled a laugh as she thought of how much coaxing it had taken for the "Prince of Sayans" to have a picture taken.

"So this is Krillin's room..." she thought, looking at the bed.

"Here it is, Eighteen, my whole literary collection. From _Faust_ to _Robinson Crusoe_. If you ever need a book, well, ...I have spares..." he mumbled.

Eighteen's expression softened. He was so...naive. It was sickening. She had to give this man some backbone. Maybe if she spent some time with him, she might learn more about human culture. In the end, he was the only human she was confortable around.

"Why? Why is he the only one that accepts me?" she thought looking at the nervous little man.

"Ok, little man, I want you to show me this power limit of yours. Tomorrow, at 5 p.m precisely, you will meet me at Phoenix Island." she said importantly, wanting to see this enourmous power of Krillin's.

Krillin smirked, something rare, even for him "Are you asking me on a date Miss Eighteen?" he asked sweetly.

"Shut up, or I'll pound your head in." she replied curtly and silent flew off.


End file.
